Observations on “the equal” and “the equals”: Phaedo 72e-77a
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249X_17_5Keywords:
Plato, Phaedo, anamnesis, “the equals/the equal”Abstract
Though Platonic anamnesis relates two different acts of knowledge ”“ one grasped through sense perception, the other conceived in the mind ”“, from an ontoepistemological point of view, I propose to see them as one single cognitive act, described from different perspectives. Though this intellectual ‘conception’ of knowledge occurs only after “something” has been grasped from sense perceptions (74c, 75a, b, e, 75e”‘76a), what is known (73c, d) through the senses (74d) refers and is compared to entities previously conceived in the mind (75b,76d”‘e). As a theory of cognition and learning, anamnesis consists in the reciprocal remission of these two acts of knowledge: one ‘grasped’ from the perception of something; the other conceived as a cognitive content kept in the soul, subsequently recovered through the experience of sense perceptions (76d”‘e; Men. 82”‘86; Phdr. 249b”‘c). In the given example, such interpretation is possible if what is grasped does not correspond to any predicates attributed to equal or unequal sticks and stones, but to “the very equals” (74b), understood as perceptual images of the equal: “the model they are formed from”, to which they refer. As a cognitive conception and a theory of the acquisition of knowledge, anamnesis consists in the gradual process started “by the use of sense perceptions” through which the soul recovers the knowledge which is its own (75e; Phd. 249b ss.).
Downloads
References
aCkrILL, J. (1973). anamnesis in the Phaedo: re-marks on 73c -75c. In: LEE, E. n.; MoUrELaToS, a. P. D.; r o rT y, r. M. (eds.). Exegesis and Argument: Studies in Greek Philosophy presented to Gregory Vlas-tos. In: Phronesis, Suppl. Vol. 1, assen, p. 177 -195.BoSToCk, D. (1986). Plato’s Phaedo. oxford, oxford University Press.CornForD, F. M. (1939). Plato and Parmenides.routledge & kegan Paul, London and Henley.DaLE, a. T. (1987). Auta ta isa, PHAEDO 74Cl: a Philological Perspective. AJPh. 108 n.º 2, p. 384 -399.DorTEr, k. (2003). Plato, Phaedo, The Soul’s Mediation between Corporeality and the Good. In: GraCIa, J.; rEICHEnBErG, G.; SCHUMaCHEr, B. (eds.). The Classics of Philosophy: A Reader’s Guide.oxford, Blackwell, p. 10 -19._(1986). Plato’s Phaedo, An Interpretation. Toronto, Toronto University Press.FICIno, M. (1588). Platonis Omnia Opera, tr. Marsilio Ficino. Lyons. Disponível em: http://faculty.tru.ca/gbowe/opera.htmlFInE, G. (1999). knowledge and Belief in RepublicV. In: FInE, G. (ed.). Plato I, oxford, oxford Univer-sity Press, p. 215 -246.GoSLInG, J. (1983). Plato. routledge & kegan Paul, London.
nEHaMaS, a. (1975). Plato on the Imperfection of the Sensible World. American Philosophical Quar-terly 12, p. 105 -117.SanToS, J. T. (2013). For a non -predicative re-ading of esti in Parmenides, the Sophists and Plato. Méthexis 26, 39 -50.S C o T T, D. (1999). Platonic recollection. In: FInE, G. (ed.). Plato I. oxford, oxford University Press, p. 93 -124._(1995). Recollection and Experience. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.SEDLEy, D. (2006). Form -Particular resemblance in Plato’s Phaedo. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Socie-ty 16, p. 311 -327.WHITE, D. a. (1989). Myth and Metaphysics in Plato’s Phaedo. Selingsgrove, Susqueshanna Universi-ty Press._ (1976). Plato on Knowledge and Reality. Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 José Trindade Santos
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Given the public access policy of the journal, the use of the published texts is free, with the obligation of recognizing the original authorship and the first publication in this journal. The authors of the published contributions are entirely and exclusively responsible for their contents.
1. The authors authorize the publication of the article in this journal.
2. The authors guarantee that the contribution is original, and take full responsibility for its content in case of impugnation by third parties.
3. The authors guarantee that the contribution is not under evaluation in another journal.
4. The authors keep the copyright and convey to the journal the right of first publication, the work being licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License-BY.
5. The authors are allowed and stimulated to publicize and distribute their work on-line after the publication in the journal.
6. The authors of the approved works authorize the journal to distribute their content, after publication, for reproduction in content indexes, virtual libraries and similars.
7. The editors reserve the right to make adjustments to the text and to adequate the article to the editorial rules of the journal.
